The Peterson Principle: 1/12/2015

Catch or no catch? That’s the question of the day. If you love the Cowboys then of course it was a catch. Dez Bryant made the greatest play of all time. If you hate the Cowboys then it was no catch. Bryant never had control and it was the greatest call of all time. But what if you didn’t have a dog in the fight? What of you were coming from a completely non-biased view?

Well, then as the officials ruled, it was no catch. It was the Calvin Johnson rule. Without citing the entire “Process Rule” verbatim it reads that if a player goes to the ground while catching a pass, he must maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground. If he doesn’t and the ball hits the ground than it is incomplete. That’s exactly what happened on the Bryant play.

It may not be a valid rule, and you may not like it but according to the rule in the NFL book, it was the correct call. Marshall Faulk on NFL Network pointed out that this is a play the officials have called many times since the Calvin Johnson play in 2010. And at least this one was explained by the men in stripes. Last week’s call (non-call and flag picked up) in the Dallas – Detroit game was never explained. That call was a blunder. This one they got it right.

An Aaron Rodgers with a calf injury is still…well Aaron Rodgers, which is still better than 95 percent of quarterbacks in the league. The go ahead touchdown pass that he threw to Richard Rodgers in the fourth quarter was an absolute dart.

I’m not one that thinks Peyton Manning should hang ’em up. Despite another disappointing early playoff exit in the loss to Indianapolis there are only a hand full of quarterbacks that are better than Manning at this point. With Manning at the helm the Broncos will still be a Super Bowl contender. When he can’t do it anymore, he’ll step down, and he’ll be the first one to tell you.

It’s a moot point now but why didn’t Denver’s Demaryius run out of bounds after catching a pass on the last play of the game. Down 11, he gets out of bounds, the Broncos kick a field goal to cut it to eight and then onside kick. Instead he chose to run down field and run out the clock. Weird.

Actually It didn’t look like either team wanted any part of New England next week. Tom Brady and company came back from two 14-point deficits to beat the Ravens. The Colts played the Patriots in November and were blown out 42-20.

No I don’t think a limited Rodgers can beat the Seahawks in Seattle. Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman and the twelves will be too much, 24-17.